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Assessment of Rural Land Governance Practices in Tigray National Regional State (Ethiopia): grass-root level Institutional Perspective Yared B. Gebrelibanos Mekelle University School of Law

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  1. Assessment of Rural Land Governance Practices in Tigray National Regional State (Ethiopia): grass-root level Institutional Perspective Yared B. Gebrelibanos Mekelle University School of Law Paper presented at Young African Researchers in Agriculture (YARA) Network Launching Workshop (Feb. 5-9, 2017) Cape Town, South Africa

  2. Presentation Overview • Introduction • Overview of TNRS Rural Land Legal and Institutional Frameworks • Methods • Assessment of the Practice of Land Governance in TNRS: Key Findings • Conclusion • Recommendations

  3. Introduction • Land governance (LG) defined • “the political and administrative structures and processes through which decisions concerning access to and use of land resources are made and implemented including the manner in which conflicts over land are resolved”- A Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa • Strong land governance is a precondition for sustainable development' (StigEnemark, 2012) • Good land governance is characterized by, among other things, land administration which governs transparent, accessible, informative, and effective rules on land (LavigneDelville, 2007). • There happens weak land governance where, for instance, the law is complicated, inconsistent or outdated, where people who work in land agencies are poorly trained and paid, or where decision-making processes are not transparent (Le Meur, 2005).

  4. Outline of the Legal and Institutional Frameworks • Ethiopia adopts federal state structure • Legal and Policy documents governing rural land: Federal and Regional • Federal • Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) constitution • FDRE Rural Development Programs, Policies and Strategies document • Proclamation No. 456/2006 • Tigray National Regional State (TNRS)/Regional • TNRS Constitution • TNRS Rural Land Administration and Use Proclamation No 239/2014 • TNRS Revised Rural Land Administration and Use Regulation No 85/2014 • TNRS Rural Land Administration and Use Directive No 4/2016 • TNRS Tabia Rural Land Adjudication/Judicial Committee Proclamation No 240/2014

  5. Cont’d • Grass-root level rural land institutions in TNRS • Land Administration • Tabiya (Sub-district) Rural Land Administration and Land Use Committee • Kushet (village) Rural Land Administration and Land Use Committee –unique • Staffed by five trustworthy and unpaid farmers who are barely literate • Land Adjudication/judicial body • Tabiya Rural Land Adjudication/Judicial Committee - –unique feature • Legally independent body staffed by three active and three reserve unpaid, trustworthy and barely literate farmers and mandated with first instance jurisdiction over all rural land related disputes except investment lands-unique feature • Rationale for existing Institutional Arrangement • Enhancing good governance in the land sector by strengthening accessibility, transparency, impartiality and accountability of the land administration and judicial organs and strengthening self rule and public participation. (Proclamation No 239/2014 and Proclamation No 240/2014)

  6. Cont’d • This work assesses grass-root level land governance practices in TNRS against land governance principles with focus on: • Tabia (sub-district) land administration committee (TLAC) • Kushet (smallest administrative unit for rural land administration purposes) land administration committee (KLAC) • Tabia land adjudication committee (LAdC)

  7. Methods • Research Question • Is it feasible to achieve strong land governance in TNRS with the present grass root level institutional structure? • Methodology • Review of policy, legal and institutional frameworks and relevant literature • Survey • HH data collected from 402 rural landholders • FGD data collected from rural community (elderly, women, youth, male-headed HH, female-headed HH, landless representatives.) • KI interview from grass-root level-regional level institutions’ representatives (TLAC, KLAC, LAdC, Woreda land administration offices, Woreda, High and Supreme courts and Woreda office of Women and Children, TNRS Rural Land Adm Agency)

  8. Cont’d, Description of Study Area • TNRS Map

  9. Cont’d • TNRS is the northernmost of the 9 semi-autonomous regional states and shares borders with Eritrea in the north, the Regional State of Afar in the east, the Regional State of Amhara in the south, and the Republic of the Sudan in the west • The State of Tigray has an estimated area of 80,000 square kilometers (Ethiopian Government portal) • TNRS is administratively divided into 7 zones and 53 woredas (Districts) including urban woredas • Mekelle is the capital city of TNRS • According to the 2015 CSA estimation, TNRS’s population size is 5,056,000 (2,492,000 M & 2,564,000 F) • Agriculture is responsible for the livelihood of about 80% of the population

  10. Assessment of the practice of LG: Key findings • Accessibility

  11. Cont’d • Summary of findings • Despite geographical accessibility opportunities, there are serious accessibility limitations of the committees. • About 50% of the respondents rate the committees accessible • Considerable number of respondents (About 50%) rate the committees’ accessibility as low or medium. • Good number of respondents feel the grass root institutions are less accessible than the Woreda and higher courts. • The perception was shared by FGD and key informant respondents

  12. Cont’d, Speed of Service delivery

  13. Cont’d • Summary of findings • Only about 25% of the respondents believe that the committees deliver speedy services • More than 50% of the respondents believe that the committees deliver delayed services. • Compared to the Kushet and Tabiya land administration committees, land adjudication committees decisions are delayed (understandably due to the inherent procedural requirements). • Speed of service delivery increases with the level of the decision making/dispute resolution organs.

  14. Cont’d, Impartiality

  15. Cont’d • Summary of findings • Whereas there are impartiality problems at all levels of the land administration and judicial organs, the problem at the grass root level institutions is worse than the higher level organs. • The services/decisions delivered by Kushet and Tabiya land administration committees and Tabiya land judicial committees are more biased than that of the woreda and above level land administration and judicial organs. • The main problems • Corruption and favoritism

  16. Cont’d, Gender Equality

  17. Cont’d • Summary of findings • Gender based biased decisions are more visible at the grass root level institutions of Kushet and Tabiya land administration committees and land adjudication committees than the Woreda and higher level organs

  18. Cont’d, Quality of Services • The services of the committees are complex and presuppose high literacy level • Example: the land adjudication committee is supposed to apply a procedure law provided by Proclamation No 240/2014 which is similar to that of the Civil Procedure Code in many respects • The low literacy level and ensuing lack of command of the laws is a factor affecting quality of the services • Most of the committee members are able to read and write (Average of grade 3) • About 1/4 of the committee members are illiterate

  19. Cont’d • Due to most importantly poor quality of the decisions of the land adjudication committees, more than 50% of the decisions of the committees are appealed to Woreda courts and more than 50% of the appealed ones are reversed. • Loss of confidence on the LADJC and seeking justice from higher level judicial bodies.

  20. Cont’d, Accountability • Proclamation no 239/2014 and Proclamation No 240/2014 provide for double accountability system of institutional accountability and individual accountability • Two main problems • The system of double accountability is causing confusions, coordination problems and interferences. • Practical problems in putting the personal accountability obligations into effect • Lack of enforcement of the law due to unpaid nature of the offices • Unresponsiveness of the tabiya administration actors • The final accountability is mere removal from the position

  21. Conclusion • Unlike the good intentions, noble move and expectations of the lawmaker, Kushet and Tabiya land administration and land adjudication committees are adversely affecting grass-root level land good governance in TNRS and contributing a lot to the extensive deficiency of good governance in the land sector • Key problems • Low literacy level of committee members • Unpaid nature of the offices and the consequent lack of commitment • Corruption and favoritism • High turnover of the members of both committees • Lack/shortage of office and/or other facilities • Poor institutional and individual accountability

  22. Cont’d • Given that land is critical resource to the region's people and that strong land governance plays unique role for food security and sustainable development, it's not sound that these grass root level institutions are staffed with barely literate or illiterate farmers.

  23. Recommendations • In view of the foregoing governance deficits and their causes, grass-root level land administration institutions should be staffed by adequately trained land administration professionals with clear legal obligations of speedy service delivery, impartiality, gender equal treatment, transparency and accountability and rule of law • However, given that community participation and representation is important for sound land governance at least till the completion of the second level land certification program , the committee may be allowed to operate as advisory body to the land administration professional(s).

  24. Cont’d • Kushet land administration committee’s importance appears only from the perspective of land allocation which can easily be handled by the Tabiya land administration committee • It's simply redundant that Kushet land administration committee exists and therefore should be eliminated • Given that there is high level of dissatisfaction with the services of land adjudication committees as result of which most of their decisions are being appealed and reversed, land adjudication committees should be eliminated and their role should be given to the regular courts at woreda level. • Nevertheless, the existing compulsory ADR system may be modified and institutionalized in the form of the existing land adjudication committees with power of mediation/conciliation

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